AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal will always have my best wishes, says Yogendra Yadav

New Delhi, April 21: A day after being expelled from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Yogendra Yadav said that he has no plans to launch a new political party with Prashant Bhushan. He also said that no matter how AAP and Arvind Kejriwl have treated him, Arvind Kejriwal will always have his best wishes.

"The last thing that the country needs is another political party. Doodh ka jalaa chhachh bhi phoonk phoonk ke peeta hai (Once bitten, twice shy)," Yadav said in an exclusive interview with Rajdeep Sardesai for Headlines Today.

It was the end of the road for Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) founder-leaders, Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, with the party expelling them for "anti-party activities".

Besides, Ajit Jha and Anand Kumar were also removed from the party.

The development came late on Monday night following separate replies of Bhushan and Yadav, to the show-cause notice for organising an anti-party meet in Gurgaon last week.

The National Disciplinary Committee met on April 20, 2015 at 6 pm at 514, VP House to decide on the complaints against Yadav, Bhushan, Kumar and Jha.

On the request of the respondents, the committee had earlier extended the deadline for submitting their explanations by one day, that is, to 3 pm on April 20, 2015.

However, the committee received the responses of Yadav, Bhushan and Kumar while Jha failed to furnish his response within the prescribed time.

The committee carefully considered responses furnished by Yadav, Bhushan and Kumar and found them unsatisfactory.

The committee reached the unanimous conclusion that Yadav, Bhushan and Kumar had indulged in gross indiscipline and anti-party activities. They have violated the Code of Conduct detailed in Article VI A (a) of Party's Constitution.

The committee was of the view that Jha had failed to furnish his response in a stipulated time despite sufficient time at his disposal.

After examining the evidence put before it, the committee was of the unanimous view that Jha was also guilty of gross indiscipline and indulging in anti-party activities.

The committee, therefore, has decided to expel all the four members from the party.

Earlier, Bhushan and Yadav described the party's show cause notice as a "pre-scripted drama where the outcome is already decided and well-known".

Bhushan accused AAP's general secretary Pankaj Gupta of accepting Rs.2 crore donation from shell companies and Ashish Khetan of writing a planted story in a national magazine defending a telecom company, allegedly involved in 2G spectrum scam.

He reiterated that the AAP's actions were reminiscent of Stalinist purges, where in the early years after the Soviet Revolution Stalin's acolytes were both the accusers and judges of the dissidents both in the party and the government.

"I received your 'Show Cause Notice' around midnight on April 17. Frankly, I have been in a dilemma on whether to respond to this communication. On the one hand it appears part of a pre-scripted drama where the outcome is already decided and well-known," Yadav said in his lengthy reply, indicating that he would be ousted from the party.

AAP a khap panchayat

A day after they were expelled from the AAP, both Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav have spoken up and said that the action taken against them is 'unconstitutional.'

Speaking to the media, Bhushan said that he was disappointed with what AAP has been reduced to from what it began as. "No doubt that the action taken against us is unconstitutional and illegal," he said.

Bhushan even termed the AAP to be a 'khap panchayat' and said that he was glad that the whole drama was over.

OneIndia News

(With inputs from agencies)